


Finding a Bit of Trust

by Strailo



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Anal Sex, Character Death, Disturbing Themes, Explicit Sexual Content, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Minor Character Death, Multi, Oral Sex, Rare Pairings, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Wedding Night, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2017-01-19
Packaged: 2017-12-04 07:54:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strailo/pseuds/Strailo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sakura does something so mean that it's unthinkable, Naruto finds his happiness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Finding a Bit of Trust 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trulywicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trulywicked/gifts).



> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Pairing: None to start, moves on to main pairing Ibiki/Naruto  
> Chapter: 1  
> For: Truly Wicked  
> Word Count: 659  
> AN: This is the final and complete rewrite. I will not be going back to rewrite anything more. I can’t rewrite anything more since if I do it changes everything. 
> 
> I am working on the sequel to this story and calling it Finding a Bit of Happiness. I hope that you enjoy this rewrite. Thank you.
> 
> *~*~*~*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 1  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Sakura, Naruto, Tsunade  
> For: TrulyWicked  
> Word Count: 812  
> AN: I would like to thank you for coming by and rereading this lovely story. It is a complete story and is (mostly) up in all of my normal places. Unless you go to AO3 and that's only up to a certain part. 
> 
> I would like to state a few things before I let you continue on to the story.
> 
> 1) I will post 5 chapters of rewritten works for this story. It's only 40 chapters long so it won't be to hard. But I'm not promising any kind of schedule. All of my other stories are on schedule.
> 
> 2) There is a second story that I'm working on but I need to rewrite this so I can work on that and know what I'm doing with it pairing wise. 
> 
> 3) This is a SLASH story. Meaning the main pairings are two males.
> 
> 4) I'm not fond of Sakura, never was, never is. She has redeeming qualities but this story was pretty much “What would happen if she just faked those qualities?” take on her. So don't complain.
> 
> Flames will be used to roast marshmallow's to make s'mores with, and to roast meat. I will share with Affy-chan.
> 
> Not beta'd this round, but last time by Cutsycat. She is awesome.
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> *~*~*~*

She swore that it had been nothing but an accident.

 

He was really doubting that fact since she had gone out of her way to hunt him down and drag him off to her personal testing area. He didn’t believe one word that was still coming out of her mouth. They all rang syrupy and fake, each one more so than the last.

 

“...I really am so very sorry, Naruto. I had no idea that it would do this to you,” Sakura babbled, stopping at the glare that was sent her way by the male sitting on the Hokage’s couch, the blue glowing with his anger.

 

With long blond hair that was kept back in a tightly done braided bun most of the time, and blue eyes that were usually sparkling with mirth and happiness, all topping a rather slim body, Naruto was a beautiful specimen of a male. The anger that was making him flushed just added to it.

 

‘ _He has always been beautiful, even in our younger years,_ ’ Sakura thought to herself, sneering mentally. ‘ _That’s probably why Sasuke-kun never once looked at me. He had this pretty boy sitting in front of him the entire time so he didn’t have to look much further for something nice to look at. I’m also betting that it was his fault that Sasuke-kun left us.’_

 

“Haruno, will you shut the fuck up?” Naruto snarled at her, his lips pulling back to bare his teeth in her direction. “This shit is all of your fucking fault. You knew exactly what would happen when you stuck me with that damn needle and pushed the plunger. I’ve heard you and Tsunade-baa-chan talk about your experiments, after all, remember? I’m not that fucking dense, you damnable woman! And now thanks to you, everyone will have their so called proof that I’m a demon!”

 

Standing up from the couch, he started to pace the length of the office, his footsteps quiet even in his obvious anger. Sakura glared at that fact that Naruto’s beauty was just added to whenever he showed emotion. Anger, sadness, pain, or even pure happiness just added to the glow that he carried with him.

 

But at the moment, he was nothing but deadly in his beauty.

 

And it was because of the new appendages that he had because of Sakura. He had sleek ears that sat on top of his head and a long tail that trailed behind him, both of which were constantly moving. Delicate claws just added to what the ears and tail did, making him seem not male. Or female.

 

But rather...androgynous.

 

Sakura felt a curl of happiness that while Naruto was even more gorgeous, he would still be considered a demon by the people of Konohagakure. She carefully arranged her face and body so that her feelings didn’t show.

 

“Haruno.” Sakura turned to look at Tsunade, finding her glaring at her and shaking her out of her internal gloating. “You will go outside and allow the ANBU that is waiting for you to escort you to the Interrogation Division without fighting him. From there, Ibiki will be the one to interrogate you. While there you will answer his questions truthfully. Remember, he will know if you do not answer him properly and will use his personal favorites on you if you don’t.” Tsunade’s smirk was sharp edged. “And he’ll do it with my blessings.”

 

Swallowing heavily, the pink haired girl nodded her head and left the room, letting the ANBU that was standing there led her away. Naruto in the meantime had falling onto the couch once more, burying his face into his hands with a soft sound of distress.

 

“Everything that I have worked so hard to achieve. Everything that I worked so hard to get...it’ll all disappear now,” he sniffled softly into his hands. “The respect that I gained, the right to move about freely…what am I going to do, Tsunade? Why did she have to do this?”

 

Sighing softly, Tsunade stood and moved to sit next to Naruto, reaching out and pulling him close, her hands moving through the other’s hair. “I don’t know why, baby. We’ll figure it out though, I promise you,” she said softly, holding him as he broke down, slowly crying himself to sleep, his face puffy and red, but still so very lovely. It broke her heart to see him so depressed and hoped that what was going didn’t break him in the process.

 

If only her little brother knew just how many people, both shinobi and villagers, would end up throwing a hissy fit about this happening to their blessed protector, he wouldn’t be so worried. But he didn’t know and he didn’t see what they saw.

 

He was still so very sweet and naive, even with all of the blood that stained his hands.

  
  


 

 


	2. Finding a Bit of Trust 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 2  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Tsunade, Ibiki, Jirayia  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,237  
> AN: Another chapter done and rewritten. I swear, I've been adding something like a couple hundred words to each chapter so far. *rolls eyes* I hope that you guys all enjoy this and leave me a comment!
> 
> Enjoy. :D
> 
> *~*~*~*

Sitting back in her chair, cup of sake in hand, Tsunade swirled the saucer around as she watched the last of the Rookie 9, their sensei’s, and team Gai leave. Shoving her blond hair out of her face, she sighed and settled in as she thought of the young man who was currently resting in her personal side room.

 

Once they had answered her summons, she had warned the group that they were going to have to stay close to Konoha for the next week or so, Naruto wanting to tell them something. Something Big. The groups would take on D and C rank missions to keep them close until he had told them. After that they were free to return back to their normal missions.

 

Sighing as she shook her head, Tsunade stood up and put her saucer down, walking over to her large window to stare out of it as she smoothed her hair back, the locks mussed from her fingers. She frowned unhappily as she ignored Jiraiya, the man currently staring into his own sake saucer as she finally pulled out a hair tie to pull her hair back, turning to him finally.

 

“We’re going to have to warn people about what happened to Naruto, make a full announcement to everyone in the village,” she said softly, playing with the ponytail she had created.

 

“I know, I know,” Jiraiya sighed, shaking his head as he let it fall back onto the couch with a soft sigh of displeasure. “I just don’t like this. Why him? Is it because he was able to drag Sasuke back, kicking and screaming and more than a little bruised? Or could it be some misplaced jealousy? Just...why him?”

 

“I have a feeling that it wasn’t just the way Sasuke was brought back but something more,” Tsunade snorted as she moved to sit down again. Her student had been acting on the odd side for the last few months, as far as she could tell. Then again, she had been too busy to really see what had been going on with her. And it worried her that she had been so blind as to not see just how her now ex-student was so cruel. Especially to someone who she was supposed to be friends with, to be a teammate to.

 

The fact that she had at one time been rather hard with Naruto was just not looking good.

 

Huffing out a breath, Tsunade let her head drop back onto her chair and moaned softly as just how much she had fucked up made it through her mind, especially when it came to Naruto. “Gods above, how blind I was to my own student,” she said lowly. Jiraiya looked up from his sake saucer and gazed at her with curious eyes.

 

“Why do you say that, hime?” he asked, draining the saucer as Tsunade once more reached for her own, holding it for a moment.

 

“I say that because I should have seen this coming from a mile away and I didn’t see it because I was caught up in trying to clean out the damn council out,” she snarled to her saucer. Draining  her sake, she shook her head again, going limp in the chair. She pressed her hand to her forehead, above her mark, rocking her chair back and forth as she thought of the small male in her personal side room for late nights at the tower once more.

 

“I’m hoping that we’ll find out just why she went after Naruto instead of anyone else once Ibiki gets done with her,” Jiraiya said, jerking when the door to Tsunade’s office opened and said man walked in.

 

“Find out what when I get done with who?” the interrogation expert asked, raising an eyebrow at the two Sannins’. He felt his shorter facial scar twitch at the looks that he got.

 

“You haven’t been down to your office just yet, have you?” Tsunade asked him, getting a shake as her answer.

 

“No, not yet. I haven’t had any time to do so. I’ve been busy looking around for a few people with some men,” Ibiki stated, thinking of the stupider council members who had run. They had been labeled traitors and hadn’t wanted to end up in the cells with chakra cuffs attached to them, which they had still ended up there. Just a little more bruised and battered. “I was just returning to drop off keys and a report,” he said, holding up said items.

 

“Just stick the report on my desk and the keys in the drawer,” Tsunade huffed at him, shaking her head at the scarred man as she eyed him closely. “Before you head over to the ANBU building, Ibiki-san, since it seems as if your ANBU haven’t been able to tell you, there has been a situation regarding Naruto.”

 

“Sakura, in all of her infinite wisdom, decided that he would make a rather good test rat and gave him the ears and tail of a fox,” Jiraiya cut in, knowing that his teammate would have danced around the subject and just pissing Ibiki off. “You need to find out just why she did it to him seeing as we know that she did it on purpose, knowing exactly what would happen to him.”

 

Ibiki blinked at him several times as Jiraiya filled his sake saucer and drained it in one easy swallow. “I see,” he hummed, his eyes taking on a hard glint as he smirked. “I will be back with that report in no more than a weeks time.” With that said, he turned on his heel and strode out of the office, the two Sannin watching as he left. They didn’t call out to him to keep her sane or even in one piece. The two knew that Ibiki had had a soft spot for Naruto for a long time, and the pink haired woman had just gotten on his bad side.

 

“Think we might be able to stick her together enough to turn her into a brood mare for the smaller clans?” Jiraiya drawled, a dark part of his personality coming out as he thought of how best to torture her.

 

“I wouldn’t really want to do that to them if we can. If we can’t, she won’t ever be a ninja again, won’t even have the use of said chakra if i have anything to say about it and she’ll end up a pariah of the village anyways,” Tsunade said. She snorted.

 

In a building that sat in the middle of nondescript grounds among nondescript buildings, Ibiki strode through halls and into a room. He found Sakura sitting in a chair, struggling against the chains that held her tight to the chair, scowling heavily. She looked up, her green eyes going wide at the sight of his sadistic smile.

 

“Haruno Sakura. You and I arm going to be having quite a bit of fun.” His voice was pleasant as the large man closed the door behind him with a decisive snick, before he started to pull of his jacket, leaving him in a sleeveless turtleneck shirt, loose pants, shinobi sandals, hiate-ate and his gloves.

  
She shrank back as far as she could in her chains, knowing that she was about to learn the true meaning of pain.

 

 


	3. Finding a Bit of Trust 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 3  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Ibiki, Sakura, Sasuke  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 2407  
> AN: I was so very mean to Sakura in this chapter. It was fun, don't you know?
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> *~*~*~*

Staring at the girl that was posing as a competent woman, Ibiki tapped his fingers on the table that sat against one wall, eyes taking her in as he frowned. “So, tell me, why are you here visiting me in my interrogation chambers this day, Haruno?” he asked, the tone purring as a vaguely curious expression on his face. As if he didn’t know the reasons why already.

 

Snorting to himself, he waited patiently as Sakura thought of her answer to him. He knew that she was considering how to twist things to look good on her part. Ibiki had always admired the way her brain worked, but if he had wanted her brain, he could just go to Anko. Who he could feel was currently in the observation room, watching behind a two-way mirror.

 

He had a feeling that she was more likely laughing her ass off.

 

Finally, Sakura shifted in her seat before crossing her legs and putting her hands together, about the extent of movement allowed by the chains. She looked up at him through her bangs as she fiddled her fingers together.

 

Ibiki just raised an eyebrow, far from fooled by her sweet and innocent act.

 

“Well, Ibiki-san,” Sakura started, her eyes wide and making the big man snort mentally, “I was just working on an easier to get those who end up stuck mid-transformations unstuck. Since Naruto can change back after getting stuck in his own way anyways, I asked if he would be willing to help me. Apparently the procedure just went wrong even though all of my other tests had gone correctly.”

 

Ibiki nodded once, reaching over to where he had laid his coat down, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen. Looking at her, he started to write down what she thought were notes, but really were his thoughts of how best to continue dealing with Sakura. He was unconcerned with what she thought he was doing.

 

“So what happened next?” Ibiki asked her, looking up with a carefully blank look on his face.

 

“After I asked him to henge into an animal and back, I did what I was supposed to do to stop him mid-transformation, and injected him,” she continued, looking down as a convincing blush spread over her cheeks. “It looks as if since Naruto’s chakra and abilities are different, it went wrong and he ended up with a pair of ears and a tail that won’t go away. After that, Hokage-sama sent me here with one of your ANBU’s.”

 

“I see,” Ibiki said. He turned back to his writing pad, writing a few more things into it before he stood up, flipping the pad closed. “You realize that until I am done with the investigation into this happenings, you will be placed into a cell correct?”

 

“Of course, sir,” Sakura replied. Her mind was already working hard on how she could soon be free to continue her work on tearing Naruto’s world apart.

 

Ibiki could see her thoughts in her eyes. “That’s good,” Ibiki replied leaving the room with a nod. Telling the female ANBU who was waiting in the hall that Sakura was to have absolutely no contact with anyone beyond him, Anko, the Hokage, and her two guards, he got a nod from her before he headed for his office.

 

Once in his office, he sat down and sent out a call for a certain person while looking at a note from Tsunade. Putting the note aside with a smirk, Ibiki pulled out his pad of paper and pen, tapping the pen on it, knowing that it was just a matter of waiting for who he had called. Looking down at his notes, he rather was hoping that the slowly building plan on how to approach his current ‘visitor’ would work, otherwise he would have to turn to physical torture. And that might end up being a waste of time.

 

Tapping his pen against the pad again, he gazed at the bare wall before him, his eyes sharp but thoughtful.

 

A knock jarred him out of his thoughts, his head tilting to the side as he felt the person’s chakra on the other side of the door. He smirked as he crossed his legs and straightened the papers that laid before him. “Enter,” he finally called out, watching his door open and a familiar male walking in. Letting his smirk grow wide, Ibiki waved a hand to the chair before his desk. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, Uchiha-san. I know that you’re usually busy.”

 

“What can I help you with, Ibiki-san?” Sasuke Uchiha asked in return, a black eyebrow cocking the only show that he was curious about what was going on. Ibiki thoughtfully played with his pen, wondering just how to tell the man before him that his best friend, rival, and savior had been screwed over by their old teammate. Sasuke’s brows furrowed together, feeling as if what he was going to be told was something bad. “What happened?” he finally snarled at the interrogation expert.

 

Ibiki leant forward as he laced his fingers together. “It’s Naruto. It seems as if Sakura has tried to play God, or tried to. Naruto has some...new additions because of her. I don’t know the exact details of it,” he stated, staring down at the Uchiha. “I was hoping that you would be willing to help me with figuring out why she did this. Currently, she’s waiting in a cell to finish my investigation.” He smirked. “Or so she knows.”

 

“So you want me to use her crush on me against her to learn why?” Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

 

Ibiki smirked, nodding as he stared at the other man with glinting eyes. “Yes, I do. What I can tell you is that Naruto apparently freaked out and is currently resting as he worried that the villagers will consider him the Kyuubi once again. He’s also worried that this will make him lose all respect from his fellow nins,” Ibiki said. His lips thinned out as Sasuke cursed softly, head falling back onto the chair backing.

 

“Well, that’s not good all around. But maybe he’ll finally get to see just how much everyone respects him,” Sasuke mused, running a hand through his hair. “But I suppose that I can help you with getting any information from her,” he finally agreed, nodding his head. “When do I talk to her?” he asked.

 

“Soon actually. I’m just waiting for a full report from the Hokage about Naruto. When I got back to the office, I found a note from the Hokage that she was going to do a quick check up while Naruto was sleeping,” Ibiki informed him. He tapped his pen against his pad of paper again, putting his ankle on his knee and leaning back.

 

The two men looked to the door as a female ANBU entered the office, offering a scroll to Ibiki, who dismissed her with a nod. Opening it up, he read over the report before he compared it to Sakura’s testimony with a scowl. Putting it down, he looked up at the bored looking Sasuke with anger flaring in his eyes, making the Uchiha sit up straight.

 

“You do remember the normal rules for an open case, right?” the scarred man asked, getting a sharp nod from him. “She did tell the truth about the fact that she was researching a way to fix a stuck chakra transformation. What she didn’t tell the truth was about the way the treatment goes, and most likely lied to Naruto. She doesn’t apply the needed chakra while they turn back to their normal form, but rather she applies it directly to the stuck chakra point before hand,” Ibiki said, tapping the scroll on the table.

 

“She really just kind of fucked herself over right there,” Sasuke snorted. Ibiki smirked as he nodded his head.

 

“Yes, she did. When she applied the chakra, she forced Naruto’s to fluctuate and permanently changed it enough for him to end up with ears and a tail because of his tenant. No doubt that she did something else in the process of doing it,” he said. “Now the question is as to why she did it.”

 

“And that is where I come in right?” Sasuke drawled, crossing his legs and foot twitching lightly as he looked up to the clock. “I’ve always known that she disliked Naruto on some level but not to the extent of trying to ruin his career and life. I’m just hoping that it wasn’t because of something truly stupid.”

 

“As much as I do,” Ibiki agreed. Rolling the information scroll back up, he placed it into one of his personal filing cabinets and sealing it shut with a bit of chakra. Standing up, Sasuke followed his movements before he stood and stretched out his body with a grunt.

 

Nodding his head as the two shook in agreement of what was to come, Ibiki lead the way to the private room that was often used for visits between visitors and certain prisoners. No one but the Hokage and Ibiki knew about the fact that it was watched every visit just in case something important something was said. “You’ll be left alone for the most part beyond the guards that will be stationed outside. When you’re done with her, just knock on the door and we’ll let you out,” the bigger man promised as he let Sasuke into the room.

 

“Not a problem,” Sasuke drawled, nodding his head as he thought over what he was going to do while in the room with Sakura. Stepping in, he sat down in the chair that didn’t have a ring in the table before it, watching Ibiki nod and leave down the hall. It didn’t take long before his ex-teammate was brought in, the chains connected to her wrist cuffs attached to the ring and forced into her chair. Looking her over with unreadable eyes, he mentally sneered as he watched her look at him with hopeful eyes.

 

“Sasuke-kun, I wasn’t really expecting to see you while I’m waiting to be let go,” she said, batting her eyes at the other male. He twitched, wanting to shove a foot down her throat so badly, but shoving that need down and smirking at her as he sprawled out lazily in his chair.

 

“I happened to hear what happened this morning and got permission to talk with you. You know how the council likes me. Always trying to get into my good graces and all that,” he said, shrugging with a negligent look. Sakura’s eyes sparkled as she wiggled in her seat, feeling bright and happy about what the fact that Sasuke had come to see her. “I have this burning need to ask though, since they’re all saying that you screwed up something so easy...did you really screw up?” he asked. His voice dropped into a rolling purr, eyes dark as he watched Sakura fall hard and fast into her rampant fangirlism for him.

 

Just perfect.

 

“Well, between us, I really didn’t screw it up,” she started, watching how Sasuke shifted to lean forward, resting his head onto his hand. She squealed inwardly at the fact that Sasuke was so interested in her and what she had done to the loser Naruto.

 

“I didn’t really think you had,” Sasuke hummed as he raised an eyebrow at her, getting a bright blush.

 

“I did do it on purpose, it was easy,” she admitted. Sasuke smirked in his mind but just tilted his head to the side. “He’s been getting uppity after all. Demanding Tsunade-sama’s time and always taking Kakashi-sensei away from training with you with those stupid missions. I mean, really? Taking a cat to the next town? Who does that? A genin team could easily do that mission after all. So I decided that he needed to learn a lesson. That it probably turned out to be permanent is just an added bonus,” she said, preening as Sasuke sat back in his chair, eyebrows shooting for his hair line.

 

“I see,” Sasuke got out before he stood up with a sigh, walking around the table and coming to stand next to her. “Did you know that there are about sixty different codes for the higher class missions? Well, I’m sure that you know them, since you are, after all, a chunin and you need to know this because you do work with Jounins and their missions. Now, what does ‘escorting a cat to the next town’ mean in that context?” Sakura swallowed heavily as Sasuke’s voice grew colder with each word that came out of his mouth.

 

“It means that they are to undertake a highly dangerous escort mission to one of the lands that we have a tentative relationship with,” she said before she looked up as Sasuke with curious eyes. “So?”

 

“No, no, we’re not done yet,” Sasuke cooed, walking around to her other side. “Now, who does Tsunade-sama usually hang out with?”

 

“Jiraiya-sama,” was the squeaked reply from the woman.

 

“And does Tsunade-sama also undertake teaching certain shinobi outside of your training about healing techniques?”

 

“She does.”

 

“Now that I’ve destroyed all of your excuses, I have to say this,” Sasuke drawled slowly as he leant down over her shoulder, smirking as he brushed his lips against her ear. “With your jealousy, you just tried, and I really do mean tried, to ruin a respected shinobi’s career and life. But, you see, it won’t work.”

 

“And why not?” she breathed out, as still as a statue.

 

“Because of the facts that Naruto is wanted even more than I ever was, and that he’s next in line for Hokage. He’s going to be just. Like. His. Dad,” he cooed, punctuating each word with a tap of his fingers on her shoulder. He stood and walked to the door, smirking as he knocked on it. “By the way, Haruno, I am engaged to a very sweet civilian woman. I’ve always had a thing for certain blonds after all and she’s just the right shade.”

 

When the door opened, he walked out, smirking at the guards at the outraged screams that followed after him.

  
  


 

 


	4. Finding a Bit of Trust 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 4  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Ibiki, Naruto  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,530  
> AN: And we start to see a softer side of Ibiki. At least when it's directed to Naruto.
> 
> *~*~*~*

 

 

Curled up on his side on the cot, Naruto stared blankly at the window, covered by the curtains that danced in a light breeze that came through the opening. Tsunade had decided to open the window just enough to let it the breeze so he didn’t have to worry about feeling confined as he napped off his crying. But at the moment, it didn’t really matter to him, not that much.

 

At the moment, he was much more worried about how he was going to be treated now. He looked like what he supposed a demon would look like in a human form after all. Ears and a tail that twitched on their own, whisker marks that sat high on his cheeks. Claws and defined, if not delicate, fangs that flashed every time he so much as though about smiling or opening his mouth.

 

He was feeling that his new looks weren’t going to have a very good reception.

 

Moaning softly to himself, Naruto rubbed his cheek against the pillow under his head, his eyes hazy as his thought ran rampant. They always returned to why Sakura had done what she had done to him, never figuring out why she had done it.

 

Was it because he had so many missions out of the village? Was she hating the fact that the village was starting to trust him, even if it was slowly? Did it have something to do with Sasuke and how he had been dragged home? He had thought that she had gotten over that long ago and had actually started to like him as a friend.

 

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he shoved his hair out of his face before he looked over to the door, his ears twitching forward at the soft sound of leather brushing against fabric. He had a feeling that he knew who it was since there were only a few people who dared to wear leather, even inside of the walls of the village. Smiling softly to himself, Naruto watched as his suspicions were confirmed, a strong but slightly scarred hand opening the door as an equally strong and scarred body stepped into the room.

 

“Hey there, Ibiki-san,” Naruto greeted softly, getting an uptilt of scarred lips from the other man. He didn’t think that he had ever seen Ibiki smile or cackle when it wasn’t connected to freaking out his enemies or opponents. But then again, he rather doubted that he wanted to see a full smile from the man. He preferred the soft smirks and tilts of his lips that he got; they always seemed to have more behind them after all.

 

“Hello, Naruto-san. I was told that you were still resting,” Ibiki said, eyeing the ears that twitched amongst the soft blond hair, barely disturbing them. The reminder of what happened just made him want to go back to the cells and slam Sakura’s head into a wall a few dozen times before he shaved her bald. He quickly shoved those urges into a box in his mind though.

 

There was no need to frighten the young man who was sitting before him.

 

Naruto shook his head as he sat up fully, pulling his legs up and curling his arms around his knees. Even being nearly twenty years of age, he still looked so very young. Sweet almost. It was almost criminal in the way that he could pull off the looks of a young teenager. Kiba and Ino often teased him on the subject but he just brushed them off with a smirk, knowing what was going on in their minds when they did so. Ibiki on the other hand was having a hard time reminding himself that Naruto was far from a child.

 

And hadn’t been one in a long time, long before he had become a genin.

 

“No, not really. Maybe I was earlier but then my mind started to really annoy me,” he admitted, his voice soft, nearly caressing the interrogation expert’s soul in its sweetness. The large man beat back the urges that had risen up, his pencil thin eyebrows twitching ever so slightly.

 

“I see. Well, I’m here to offer you a place to stay while we try to figure out if the ears are going to be permanent or not,” he continued. His tone didn’t betray what was going on in his head. “I live in a rather large home on the outskirts and you’ll be more than free to train as you want. You’ll be able to do things without worrying of being attacked suddenly by one of few idiots who are left in the village.

 

“What about my apartment though? I need to gather up my stuff, including my plants,” Naruto started, trailing off at the thought of some uncaring nimrod hurting his carefully cultivated babies. Some of them were rare and used in poisons and healing balms after all.

 

Ibiki snorted and shook his head, moving to sit down in the only chair that was in the room beyond the bed. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, he laced his fingers together, watching the way blue eyes zoned in on his hands. “I’ll make sure that someone who you feel you can trust is the one to gather your things. Or if you want me to, I can have a few of the ANBU gather everything while you’re there, help you carry things back,” he offered, watching Naruto look back up with a wariness that shouldn’t be there. He was really starting to hate with a bloody passion the civilian part of the village for doing what they had done to the young man before him.

 

“You would really let me stay at your place? Why though?” Naruto asked, shifting and watching the other man with a calculating look on his face before he nibbled at his bottom lip, thinking. “What would I need to do in return?”

 

“All I want is for you to just continue to do what you need to do. Train, figure out how this affects you, your balance and your chakra,” Ibiki said, staring straight into Naruto’s eyes with a frown playing over his lips. “Leave it to me and Tsunade to do the damage control and figure out what the hell Haruno did to you. We have some of the needed information on what she did but not all of it. Even using Sasuke to get the information, she still unfortunately left out quite a bit of what she did. As for why I’m doing all of this? I’m doing it because I want to do it.”

 

Naruto nodded. “Did she say why she did it?” he asked tentatively, blue eyes filled with sadness. He had a sinking feeling that he already knew just why she had done it but he was trying so hard to deny it to himself that he was fearing what Ibiki would say.

 

“She said she did it because she thought that you were taking Uchiha-san away from more important things, demanding too much attention from Kakashi-san and Tsunade-san, and doing stupid things with them,” he said, his voice cold, dark with his obvious displeasure. “As for what those important things were, they were her and his training.”

 

“I see,” Naruto sighed, frowning down at his knees. He shook his head. “You mean to tell me, that all those times I used code that she knows, she didn’t bother to connect it to training or doing missions with ANBU or even just higher class missions?” he asked after a few minutes of sitting there, thinking. His eyes flared with anger.

 

“Precisely,” Ibiki snorted, a twisted smirk flitting over his thin lips as he returned Naruto’s gaze. “Apparently, anytime that she’s around the Uchiha, her mind went into something that Anko calls ‘fangirl mode’. Whatever that means,” he continued, bringing one hand up to rub against his temple. He watched as Naruto shivered, his ears going flat against his head, tail fluffing out.

 

“I have to warn you, any time that you see a glint in a girl’s eyes that reminds you of Anko when it comes to her dango or Orochimaru, run away. Run far away. That’s a fangirl sparkle and it’s a scary, scary thing,” the younger male told his companion, nodding his head as he shuddered against. Ibiki burst out into booming laughter at the sight.

 

“I have a feelin’ that you’ll do just fine with me kid. Come on, let’s head on out and get your stuff together, yes?” he asked as he stood up. He got a scowl from Naruto, the glare coming from him more of a pout than an actual glare.

 

“Don’t call me kid, damn it! And fine, that sounds good to me. Do we have anything to hide my new attributes with?” he asked. He squawked as the door to the room was opened, a coat flying at him.

 

“Go on, get out of my office,” Tsunade drawled, smirking at the pout that she got from her little brother.

 

“Tsunade!”

  
  


 

 


	5. Finding a Bit of Trust 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 5  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Ibiki, Naruto, Sasuke  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 2.109  
> AN: Some friendship going on here and all that good stuff. I love it when these two actually are friends. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> *~*~*~*

It had taken Ibiki some time to hunt down the few ANBU that worked for him that Naruto trusted enough to allow into his home to pack it up. Once he had them, he had explained to them what he had wanted them to do, half of the group head off to his own home. They would be cleaning out a set of rooms that he had been using as a storage room. The other half headed off to Naruto’s apartment to wait for him.

 

Looking at Naruto, he had to smile at the way the smaller nin was nearly swallowed whole by the hooded jacket that he was wearing. Naruto just gave him a dark look as he shook his head, standing up from where he had taken a seat.

 

One of the ANBU had asked about why Naruto just didn’t use a henge to do what he needed to do out in the village after he had brought out the jacket that he was wearing. Naruto had then shown him, doing a henge which still ended up with ears and tail, why while stating that he could probably change into other people. He didn’t want to deal with his neighbors asking as to why he was stealing his own stuff. The ANBU had nodded when he had learned about what was going on with that fact.

 

“We’ll head out in a few minutes, Naruto, let them do some of the starting work without having to worry about rushing,” Ibiki said, getting a nod from the other male. “Do you want to see Sasuke before he leaves the tower? Ask him anything?” the scarred man asked him, watching blue eyes darken as he thought.

 

“Yeah. I actually want to grill him about a couple of things,” Naruto finally said, nodding his head with a smile. Ibiki smirked at him before leading him to the waiting room that lead to his office, planning on getting any information he could from Sakura. They found that Sasuke was already waiting for them, lounging and reading a small book as he easily ignored Ibiki’s civilian secretary who was blushing at the sight of him. “Hey, Sasuke, what are you up to this time?” the smaller male asked, looking at the book with a raised eyebrow.

 

“I’m reading a book on the chakra of demons. I got curious about it nearly a year before you dragged me back to the village,” the Uchiha replied, picking up a water bottle from the table to his left, wiggling it.

 

“That was almost three years ago though!” Naruto exclaimed, scowling as he felt his furry appendages twitch under his coat.

 

“How about we move into my office to have this conversation, you two?” Ibiki asked, eyeing the way his secretary was acting. He idly wondered just why it was that he had allowed Tsunade to hire a civilian as his personal secretary as they walked into his office. The woman pouted at the door as it was closed in her face. “Do you two know if she’s a fan girl? I need to know so that I can fire her if she is,” the bigger man growled, getting smirks from his companions.

 

“Oh yeah is she a fangirl. She’s actually one of Sasuke’s. Though I’ve noticed that most of them deny that he’s getting married now that his engagement came out,” Naruto said, sending a smirk to his friend. “Though, I don’t think that Sakura knows about it. Not really. She was out of the loop for a while there.”

 

“I happened to tell her when I was leaving her after our talk. So bite  me, you idiot,” Sasuke  snorted, shaking his head with a roll of his eyes. “What did you two need anyways?” he asked, watching Ibiki sit down with cool eyes, the two males taking their own seats.

 

“I wanted to ask you about your conversation that you had with Sakura. Well, more like your observations,” Naruto replied, dropping down into a chair as his escort sat pulled out a large pad of paper and a pen to take notes.

 

“I would also like to know more about your personal thoughts about the girl and not just during your time in the room. I’m going to have to do this with all of your friends by the way,” Ibiki drawled as he tapped his pen on the pad of paper.

 

“I should start at the beginning with her then,” Sasuke said, settling into his seat, tapping his water bottle on one knee. “We all met her back in the academy, about the same time that me and Naruto first met actually. I thought that she was on the shy side considering she wanted to become a kunoichi, but that didn’t last very long. No longer than a year. She met Ino and they became friends before they started to crush hard on me. That was about the time that my clan was killed. She was really forward about it all.”

 

“I can remember that after the month long vacation between year one and two that Sakura and Ino walked right up to you, smiling brightly, and called you Sasuke-kun. It was as if she thought you two were great friends,” Naruto said, shaking his head.

 

“Yeah. That pissed me off to no end. I didn’t know her or Ino at all, my family was having some major issues going on, my father was a douche, and here was this girl that thought I wanted company,” Sasuke snorted, nodding his head as Ibiki jotted down notes. “Over the next two years, she drove me batty with her stalking, especially after it came out that my clan was killed. Even when I was an absolutely ass to her to discourage her from coming near me, she and others kept coming back for more. It was almost as if she lived in a fantasy world where I needed time to get past my clan’s death, and once I did, I would pay attention to her,” he continued. He rubbed at his eyes.

 

Naruto pulled his legs up, wrapping his arms around his legs, and tapping his fingers on one foot. “After we were put on the same team, it seemed that she had calmed down with her crush. Granted, she still asked him out all of the time but she was doing her work, and she seemed to really have  it out for me.”

 

“It could be that the accidental kiss was what really set her off. Before that happened, she thought that you were an annoying loser with a crush on her,” Sasuke cut in, pulling a face. “Lucky for you, she never once figured out that you could barely even stand her.”

 

“Even you knew that I was play acting when it came to her,” Naruto snorted as he flicked a bit of his hair back out of his face.

 

“She was very dense about anything that didn’t fit into her world view. And her world was known to be very selective about what was let in. All the guys crushed on her, I was just hurting instead of wanting to get revenge on my clan’s killer, and Naruto was nothing but an idiot who couldn’t do anything beyond pranks. Mind you that was during the academy,” Sasuke continued. “The delusions just ended up getting worse once we were in a team together. Even though it was mostly her asking me out after training and being annoying. She fawned over me then and she still did to a point after I got back.”

 

“Uchiha-san, we all know that a lot of people annoy you,” Ibiki growled as he flipped the page on his pad. “What about you, Naruto? Any observations that you’ve made?” he asked, looking up when Naruto snorted.

 

“Oh yeah, loads of them. I used to sneak after various classmates to test my skills against those of my own age group. I found that Sakura would literally stalk after Sasuke with a look of glee that sends shivers down my back even to this day. On quite a few occasions, I found her sneaking into Sasuke’s smaller home on the Uchiha grounds. And when we got older, after I got back from my training with Jiraiya, I found that she had started to collect scraps of clothing and the such from fights that she was at. Not to mention any clothes that got lost by Sasuke. I shudder actually to think about what I saw her do with those clothes.”

 

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Sasuke sighed, eyes narrowing at the nod. “Now I’m so very glad you convinced me to burn those clothes and bed sheets when I got back.”

 

“And your bed,” Naruto chirped as he shoved his hood back, ears twitching with his amusement. Ibiki would never admit it out loud, but he was shuddering at the thought of what Sakura could have been doing. He liked women just as much as he liked men, the same with any nin who lived their lives past their teen years, but there was just something about Sakura that just made his balls want to crawl back up into his body. “Anyways, I don’t know what she did with all of that stuff once I brought Sasuke here back.”

 

“We’re going to raid everywhere that she owns so we’ll find out what she did with them,” Ibiki promised as he dragged himself out of his thoughts. He picked up a scroll and unrolled it. “We have found her notes and unlocked their codes, so all we need to do is read through them and figure out how she kept her records. We have found several books with detailed notes on what Sasuke did through his time here, and whenever you and your team ran into him up until the day before today. They’ve included rants, mostly about Naruto and always connected to Uchiha here. And their interactions. What we do know is that she blamed Naruto for driving Sasuke away instead of blaming his lust for more power,” he said, reading off of the scroll.

 

“Not truly surprising. She was always rather on the violent side when it came to me. The last few years, she had toned it down but that was mostly because Tsunade-baa-chan and I are so close,” Naruto said, shaking his head at that.

 

“That and I told her off as she had attacked you after I was brought back,” Sasuke noted, Ibiki going back to taking notes again. “While I was speaking with her in the interrogation room, she seemed to be almost like she had been back in the academy. All sweetness and fluff. It was kind of creepy.” Sasuke shuddered at the memories. “She also seemed as if she was holding something back, but I’m thinking that it could have been some details as to what she did to Naruto here. Did you find any information on that?”

 

Naruto tilted his head to the side, curiosity filling his eyes, the man nodding and pointing to a pile of boxes in the corner of his office.

 

“We found those in her office. I’m going to assign some of my ANBU to help me go through all of them. Not to mention that we have to get a list of medical jargon for those who don’t understand it. Which is surprisingly quite a few of my people,” Ibiki drawled. He sent a glare at the boxes. “And we have yet to find all of the compartments that she has running around her home still,” he groused, making the two younger men laugh.

 

“I wish you all of the luck with that, Ibiki. Personally? I need to head out. I have things to do, and this unfortunately includes me looking at invitation styles,” Sasuke said as he stood up with a huff.

 

“Sounds like so much fun,” Naruto teasingly said, getting a dry look as the Uchiha strolled out of the office, the door snapping closed behind him. Naruto snickered softly before he turned to Ibiki as the big man stood up from his chair.

 

“Come on. Let’s get to the house. Your rooms should be set up and ready for your appraisal,” Ibiki invited, getting a nod from Naruto. Pulling up his hood, Naruto followed after the man out of the office and out of the building, taking to the roofs, heading to the outskirts of the village.

  
  
  


 

 


	6. Finding a Bit of Trust 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 6  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Sakura, Rat ANBU, Mysterious man  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 784  
> AN: Yes, indeed, here is where we start to see the plot unfold. I hope you remember that I'm reposting every time I've rewritten 5 chapters. So I hope that you guys enjoy this!
> 
> *~*~*~*

Sakura sneered at the masked ANUB who had just shoved her into her new personal cell, slamming the door solidly behind her quickly, ignoring her protests. Rubbing at her wrists, she supposed that she was lucky that they had decided to remove her chakra suppressing cuffs. But they hadn’t removed the suppressor around her neck. Sitting down onto the bedding, she glared at the opposite wall, wanting to know why she was there at all. All she had done was show the village and the world what everyone knew about Naruto. After all, he was the new Kyuubi, and he deserved whatever he he got in the long run.

Especially after what he did to her Sasuke-kun through all of their years.

Looking up when the door opened, she glared at the smugly smirking Anko who dropped her tray of food down onto the only table that was in the room. Turning her eyes to the tray, she had to admit that the food that they fed to their prisoners were good at the very least. Turning back to the snake user, Sakura watched as she once more left and closed the door behind her with a snicker.

‘What a bitch,’ Sakura snorted mentally. ‘She should be fed to the wolves along with her fucking traitor sensei. Or be slowly drawn and quartered.’ Shaking the thoughts away, she stood up and gathered the plate before she sat down again. Settling in with her rice and beef, she contemplated what would happen now that she was in ANBU control, in one of their holding cells.

She already knew that nothing would happen to her. After all, she was the apprentice of Lady Tsunade, the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village and granddaughter of one, student of Kakashi Hatake, son of the infamous White Fang and well known genius of his own. And finally she was the teammate and close friend of Uchiha Sasuke, one of the last two Uchihas who were still loyal to the village. Granted, Naruto had been a part of the team but he hadn’t held them back to much.

She was a commodity to the village!

And she didn’t believe that so called Sasuke who had talked to her in the interrogation room. That hadn’t been her Sasuke-kun; he wouldn’t ever betray her like that! It had to have been Ibiki, the bastard, or it could have been that bitch Anko. But it had not been her Sasuke-kun.

Stabbing her chopsticks into a piece of beef, she snarled loudly, making the watching ANBU shudder at the way the snarl made the somewhat pretty face pull into something absolutely ugly.

‘They just don’t want me and Sasuke-kun to make pretty babies together. They’re just jealous of us.’ Her thoughts were snarls of anger as she tore the beef apart in her anger. ‘Who the fuck do they think they are?! I bet that it’s all because of that whore Naruto getting everyone to try and separate me and Sasuke-kun so that he can have him all to himself. But who would help that bastard child?’

Shaking her head free of the thoughts, Sakura ate quickly before she stood and put her plate onto the table, taking her seat on the bed again. She barely paid any attention to the ANBU who came in to collect her plate, her mind already spinning with all of the possibilities of who had turned on her.

*~*~*~*

“She’s certifiably nuts, isn’t she?” the ANBU asked as he placed the plate down onto a table as Anko rubbed over her bottom lip with a finger.

“Sociopathic, oh yeah, she is. Nuts, not so much. She does have a case of fantasy going on,” Anko replied as he smirked slightly. “Go and bring me some of her journals would ya? I think I need to see more of her world from her point of view.”

“Yes, ma’am.” With a slight bow, the Rat masked ANBU disappeared, leaving the snake mistress to continue watching over her new prisoner with a frown.

*~*~*~*

So, it seems as if Sasuke’s little fangirl has betrayed her own people.” The man smirked as he played with a kunai, his servant nodding, watching as his master gazed out of a window high above the village.

“Yes, sir. What would you like us to do?” the shorter of the two asked him, looking at his master. A long finger hand slammed the kunai into the window sill as slim lips curled into a cruel smirk.

“I want you to watch just for now. I think that we might find her useful after all.”

“Yes, sir. Of course.”


	7. Finding a Bit of Trust 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 7  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Team Gai, Naruto, Ibiki  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1634  
> AN: I hope that you guys all remember that I do have a few chapters that tell people all about what happened to Naruto. :D 
> 
> I still hope you guys enjoy the story and take a few minutes to review if you can. Hugs and kisses all. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> *~*~*~*

Checking his new room with a thoughtful gaze, Naruto hummed and shoved his bed closer to one wall, glad that the ANBU had the sense not to put anything away, leaving the details to him. Ibiki was standing next to a small table, going through the scrolls and looking for the one that he knew held Naruto’s clothes while Naruto himself shifted the furniture and his plants into place.

 

The scarred man was finding it interesting just how fussy the younger male was when it came to his stuff and was glad that his ANBU had been careful with everything. It had also helped that Naruto’s room was connected to a bathroom and a receiving room, letting him have plenty of privacy in the house.

 

Looking up when a few choice words came from Naruto, Ibiki snorted softly and walked over to help him hang his plant from the ceiling, the hook not wanting to sit right. Getting it right, he raised an eyebrow, getting a pout from his companion. It was starting to look as if he was starting to finally relax enough for him to feel comfortable again. But Ibiki was still worried that telling anyone else about Sakura’s betrayal would make him tense and start to worry again.

 

Sighing, Ibiki rubbed at his skull cap, thinking, as Naruto opened the scroll that was marked ‘sheets’.

 

“You do know that we’re going to have to tell your friends and those that you work with closely about this right?” he asked, watching as Naruto walked to the bed with sheets in hand. The blond unfolded the sheets before spreading them over the bed, tucking in one corner before he eyed the bald male near him. Ibiki could read the apprehension in his eyes. “We’ll be doing this on your terms,” Ibiki continued, quick to sooth his skittish house guest.

 

“We’ll do it here or in Tsunade’s office then,” Naruto replied before he returned back to pulled the sheets onto his bed as he thought. “Alright. I think that I would like to start with Team Gai for this. And yes, this includes Gai. You’re just going to have to deal with him,” he said, quick to point a finger at the interrogation expert with narrowed eyes.

 

He knew just how well Ibiki and Gai got along; that was to say, Gai annoyed Ibiki to the point where he wanted to do nothing more than shove a kunai through the rather enthusiastic Jounin’s skull and twist.

 

Everyone in the village knew it and they worked hard to keep them apart.

 

“Why do you feel the need to torture me?” Ibiki grunted as Naruto smirked and laid out his blanket and pillows.

 

“Just get Team Gai after we eat something please? I haven’t eaten since earlier today and I would like some food,” he huffed.

 

Waving his hand, Ibiki smirked as Naruto walked out of the door and down the hallway towards the kitchen. Taking the room over easily with a huff, Naruto watched as his companion wrote out the summons for Team Gai, sending them out with a few of his personal summons. Naruto just shook his head and went back to creating a basic stir fry with rice.

 

“So when did you tell them to come around for the meeting?” Naruto asked as he opened one of his scrolls, finding bread that looked home made to Ibiki’s eyes.

 

“In about three hours. And when do you find the time to make bread?”

 

Naruto laughed softly as he continued to chop the vegetables and meats. “Over the years I’ve discovered that it’s just so much cheaper to make most of my own food, so I’ve made the time,” the shorter male said, his ears quivering at the memories. Ibiki made a note to boycott anyone who still refused to serve Naruto, or price gouged him. He knew that there weren’t many left but it would make him feel better.

 

“I see,” Ibiki drawled before he shook his head, moving to put away the rest of Naruto’s food, stashing the scrolls in another scroll and allowing Naruto to put it away into his cabinet.

 

Sitting down at the table, Ibiki raised an eyebrow as Naruto dished up the food and sat down, watching as his ears twitched and sway back and forth as he dug in. Smiling, the two settled in and enjoyed the food, looking up when a knock sounded on the door. Ibiki growled before looking to a small clock, shaking his head as he stood and moved to open it. Naruto moved to hide in the kitchen for the moment, taking the used dishes with him.

 

“Hello, Ibiki-san,” greeted the pale eyed Neji, who had arrived first along with Ten-ten, looking bored but curious as to why he had been called to the house. Ten-ten smiled and bowed shallowly in greeting before jabbing a finger in her teammates side.

 

“Hyuuga, Ten-ten, please come on in,” Ibiki said, stepping to the side and allowing the two to enter his house. Watching as they slid off their shoes, he closed the door and raised an eyebrow at them. “Where is Gai and Lee?”

 

“They’re coming soon. They had to stop and pick something up for Naruto-kun, or so they said,” Ten-ten said, blinking as the door was knocked on after she had finished speaking. “Or they ran and they’re here now.” Sighing, Ibiki pulled the door back open, knowing better than to look at the blinding smile that no doubt were aimed his way.

 

“Ibiki-san, it is a delight to see you so soon after our last meeting,” Gai greeted as he watched the other man scowl at him.

 

“Greetings, Ibiki-san,” Lee chirped from behind his teacher, already smiling at the other man, Ibiki squinting at them in an attempt to keep from going blind.

 

“Please, come on in. Let me speak with Naruto about how he wants to do this,” Ibiki drawled, stepping away from the doorway again, letting the two men into the house. He pointed to the living room, making sure that they were settled before he headed back into the kitchen, nodding his head at Naruto as he watched the kettle heat. “So?” he asked.

 

“Tell them what happened first and then show them?” Naruto asked softly, getting a nod from Ibiki. A smile tugged at the younger male’s lips. “So, go do that while I work on making the tea,” he shooed, pulling the whistling kettle off of the stove. Ibiki shook his head and walked into the living room, sitting down and laying one ankle over his knee.

 

“Something has happened to Naruto-kun. The Hokage already knows about this along with Sasuke-san, Anko, and several of my ANBU,” Ibiki started, drawing four pairs of eyes towards him.

 

“Why do so many people already know something that I have a feeling is a high class secret?” Neji asked after a moment of silence.

 

“It’s not a secret, not really. How it all happened is until the trail, but not the after effects. It seems that Haruno decided to test something on him, the results of which left him with a few extra appendages,” he said, nodding his head to Naruto who had just walked in, carrying a tray laden with teacups, a teapot and a couple of other dishes. “Found everything that you needed to?”

 

“You know, you haven’t changed anything from that last time that we got together for a mission and the ANBU work meeting,” Naruto said, putting the tray down as the others looked on, amazed at the sight of the twitching ears and tail. Lee finally stood up, looking down at his friend before he reached out and tweaked the tip, watching as the ear went flat for a second before it went to standing up.

 

“They are very real and very cute,” Lee finally said, getting a grateful smile from his smaller friend.

 

“Yeah, they’re real,” Naruto chuckled. “We’re not quite sure what exactly she did to me though,” he said, moving around Lee to sit down, serving the tea with a heavy blush as the other three continued to stare at him. “I’m actually planning on telling everyone, one by one, or rather the teams one by one, and then telling a few important people before the trail goes public.”

 

“The trial will actually happen in the next couple of weeks. Until then, Sakura is locked up and in denial about Sasuke’s status as an engaged man,” Ibiki drawled. His lips twitched up into a smirk. Naruto just rolled his eyes and stroked Lee’s arm in comfort when he sat next to him, his teammates sweetening their tea.

 

“I supposed that I should not be surprised by this. She was after all very obsessed with Uchiha-san,” Lee sighed as he shook his head with a tight frown.

 

“You can visit her while she’s in holding if you wanted to,” Ibiki offered the young man, getting a nod. “Anyways, until we are able to tell the others, try to stay quiet about this all please.”

 

“Of course, Ibiki-san,” Neji promised, watching as Lee fussed with Naruto’s ears, making the fox look at him with an indulgent smile on his lips. Gia had ot laugh softly as Ten-ten just shook her head.

 

“Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone,” she said, putting her teacup down and smiling softly. Lee and Gai nodded in agreement, making Ibiki watch and wonder just how their heads hadn’t come off with how hard they were nodding. Lee just went back to playing with Naruto’s ears as everyone settled in to talk and chat between themselves.

  
  


 

 


	8. Finding a Bit of Trust 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 8  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Sakura, mysterious man  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 753  
> AN: I'm seriously mean to these characters, really I am. *cackles cutely*
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> *~*~*~*

Walking into the holding cell, the man clicked his tongue as he watched the way Sakura was staring at the wall.

 

Or rather try to glare it into submission.

 

Laughing quietly, he smiled lightly as the pink haired woman jumped up and off of the bed, the chain that had been placed around her ankle rattling with her movements. Waving a hand to her, he sat in the chair near the door and turned back to her, enjoying the rather weak narrow eyed glare he was getting.

 

“Do calm down, Sakura-chan, I’m not here to hurt you,” he promised, watching as she sat down on the bed again, still tense. “Your guards have been knocked out for the moment so that we can have a few minutes to speak with one another.”

 

“What are you doing here?” Sakura finally asked him, her pale green eyes still glaring at him. “Are you here to mock me just like that bitch? Or are you here to tell me more lies?”

 

“I’m not here to do either of those. I’m here to offer you your freedom, new strength, and a way to show the Fox’s tru face to the village and to the Hokage,” he said, placing one elbow on the arm of the chair, head resting on his hand. She was looking a bit more interested in what he had to say. “You know that they will never see the truth as long as that fox lives the life he’s not supposed to. They all need to be shown the true evil that he carries.”

 

“He’s nothing more than a slut. Seriously, nothing more than a whore. He made my Sasuke-kun want blonds,” Sakura sneered, crossing her arms and looking at the wall again. “He flirts all the damn time with others to. He’s probably slept with them to but I can’t find any proof of it since everyone’s so tight lipped.”

 

“Yes, he is good at sneaking about and hiding the real truth from everyone,” he cooed in sympathy, his eyes glittering coolly. “I can help you, but it would have to be handled rather gently since this is a delicate situation.” Looking over at the man, Sakura raised an eyebrow before she leant back against the wall her bunk was pushed up against.

 

“I will need some time to really think about my options,” she finally said, getting a nod from the man. Watching as he stood up from the chair, she smirked as he opened the door and left, the door closing and locking behind him.

 

Neither the man nor Sakura noticed the ANBU that was laying on the floor next to the door shift a tiny bit, dark eyes flashing behind his mask as they looked out of the main eye slits. He would have to speak with Ibiki and the Hokage as soon as he could. Even though he couldn’t tell who the man was, a jutsu surrounding him, masking him from sight, he could still tell his height and weight.

 

His body type and, by the way he moved, his fighting style.

 

Sakura, in the meanwhile, settled back firmly against her wall, and once more stared at her wall, thinking long and hard about what she had just been offered. She knew that the man wanted to use her in the long run, but really, she didn’t mind at all since she could use him in return.

 

As it stood, she wanted to do nothing more than ground Naruto into the dirt before she fixed Sasuke from the warping that he obviously had gone through while with the snake bastard. And help fix the seduction that Naruto had obviously done along with Itachi’s damning influence.

 

Why they had ever thought that letting that sociopath back was a good idea, she would never understand. She didn’t care that he had been working undercover for the Hokage and Ibiki all these years. He had still been a missing-nin, had killed others as a missing-nin! He had nearly killed her Sasuke-kun for that matter.

 

Either way, he would be able to help her get what she wanted, destroying the fools who dared to get in her way and go about having a lot of little black haired babies.

 

Looking up as the door slammed into the wall, she scowled unhappily as Anko stormed in, looking beyond pissed about having found her ANBU knocked out.

 

Sakura decided that the bitch would be the first one to go.

  
  


 

 


	9. Finding a Bit of Trust 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 9  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Naruto, Ibiki, Sparrow/Raidou  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,696  
> AN: One more chapter to post after this. Please remember that I repost each time that I get 5 chapters rewritten. :D
> 
> So I do hope you enjoy and review! They are love after all.
> 
> *~*~*~*

The afternoon that had been spent with Team Gai had ended up with Lee running out to get take out for all of them on Neji’s dime, much to their amusement. Once they had left, Naruto had changed a few things around in his room before falling asleep after he had gotten his wardings and seals down to his liking.  

 

The next morning found Naruto waking up to the sounds of Ibiki making tea in the kitchen, clinks and the kettle filtering through the walls and door. Trying to ignore the sounds of the other man, he buried himself under his blanket and grunted unhappily at the fact that it didn’t work. The sounds kept coming through the walls and blanket, making him sit up, ruffled from his bedding and far from happy.

 

Groaning, he slid out of bed, grabbed his robe and tugged it on, before he padded out on socked feet, glaring at the bald man who had dared to disturb his rest before he stole the other male’s teacup. He growled when Ibiki reached out to take it back with a huff.

 

Blinking a few times as he pulled his hand back, Ibiki had to laugh quietly as he let the blond have the teacup, making a new one instead. He had been warned by Lee the night before that Naruto wasn’t much of a morning person, and that he tended to steal a person’s teacup. Or their coffee if it was what they had instead. The other man tasted his cup before he turned to start on breakfast, Naruto pulling himself up to perch on the corner of the counter.

 

“So, tell me, what am I going to be doing today?” Naruto asked in some curiosity from his perch on the counter, still sleepy sounding.

 

“You have a few choices. You can stay here for the day, get used to the house and the such. Or you can join Tsunade-sama in her office. Or you can join me at the ANBU headquarters, have someone see how the ears and tail affect your balance and fighting abilities,” the bald man suggested, dropping some leftover meat into a pan with a bit of sizzling oil. Naruto hummed and tasted his tea for a few minutes, looking down at the cup with a frown.

 

“I think that I will come in. Even though I can’t actually work on my own case, I can at least spar, as you said, and maybe raid the ANBU library. Think about who to tell next.”

 

“I know that Asuma-san’s team is currently out of town on am ission. They should be back later today, or tomorrow at the latest. But I do suggest that you tell Kurenai-san and her team next. Keep her away from Asuma-san and Kakashi-san though,” Ibiki said as he continued to make their food.

 

“I’ll have to send a bird to Kurenai then. As long as you don’t mind me borrowing one,” Naruto said, standing to pour himself more tea as Ibiki added some cooked rice to the pan. “It’s going to be nothing but interesting to tell them. Especially since I also have to tell the other clan leaders about what Sakura did. That conversation will be so fun, really,” he drawled, shaking his head as his companion gave him a look.

 

“I had forgotten that you had taken your father’s place when you turned eighteen,” Ibiki said, turning to dish out the food and handed a plate to Naruto.

 

“Not that I really care what they want to do as long as they don’t try to screw me over,” came the reply as Naruto settled in to eat.

 

“I think that they’re all too afraid of Tsunade-sama and her temper. Especially after she tore apart the civilian council,” Ibiki stated, watching as Naruto blushed a rather nice pick color.

 

“I can’t control what she does or who she does it to. If she wants to destroy the lives of those who stick their noses into nin business, especially since they have no business doing so, then I’m not going to stop her from doing it.” The tone and look on Naruto’s face screamed ‘innocent’, but the interrogator wasn’t the least bit fooled, giving Naruto a look over his teacup. “It’s not my fault that they wanted to try to go after me for dragging Sasuke back trussed up like a plucked turkey.”

 

“If I remember that day correctly, you called him as such as you handed him over to me,” Ibiki stated, finishing his food before placing it into the sink. “I need to get ready for work. And if you’re coming with me, so do you. We’re leaving in thirty minutes, so don’t forget anything.”

 

“Not a problem.”

 

An hour later found Naruto sitting at a desk, taking ANBU mission reports while several others were going through Sakura’s research files and personal items in another part of the large room. They occasionally got up to do whatever they did when not figuring out why a shinobi had gone absolutely apeshit and turned on her own teammate.

 

Sitting back in his chair with a slow stretch, the fox stared at the suddenly filled space before him, blinking at the ANBU’s chest. Looking up from the armor covered torso, he raised an eyebrow at the sparrow mask before him, knowing who it was already, having worked with him before.

 

“Sparrow-san, what an interesting surprise to see you. What brings you here this morning?” he asked the man in greeting. He had an odd feeling that the other’s eyes were glued to his head, watching as his ears were twitching back and forth before they flattened against his skull.

 

“So what has been going on while I was gone on a mission?” came the soft question, making Naruto pout. He just knew there was an eyebrow rising upwards somewhere under that mask.

 

“Sakura went over the edge of sanity and fucked around with me. Somehow it took the merged chakra that I have and formed it into physical manifestations in the form of ears and tails. Or so I heard the ANBU doctor mutter earlier when he swung by to check on me,” Naruto drawled, waving a hand towards the area that had things that were piled high, ANBU working on shifting through everything there.

 

“So I’m seeing,” Sparrow hummed quietly, reaching up to smooth down the skull cap that he wore as he looked around, turning back to Naruto, finding him playing with a scroll on the table. “Are you free for lunch later on?” he asked, drawing blue eyes upwards.

 

“Yeah, I am,” Naruto said, smiling up at his friend as he nodded his head in agreement. “Just swing by around one or so. I have to meet with Ibiki-san about twelve to see what was found so far, and what I’m going to do until we get rid of the ears. If we ever do.”

 

“They’re kinda cute,” Sparrow teased him, tugging on one ear before he disappeared with a puff of smoke and a ‘see you later’, a new scroll sitting on the desk before Naruto. Huffing, he reached forward and plucked the scroll up, opening it up enough to sign the bottom of it before he rolled it back up, putting it to the side for pick up and filing.

 

As soon as noon rolled around, Naruto’s hand was starting to feel well used and he was getting tired of having his ears tweaked by the ANBU operatives. Nearly running into Ibiki’s office, he closed the door behind him, smiling at the two men that were sitting there, looking at him with their eyes shining with their amusement.

 

“Hey there, Ibiki-san, hey, Raidou,” Naruto chirped, sitting down with a flop, nearly sprawling out in his chair. “I thought that we were going to meet for lunch after this,” he said, looking to Raidou, who just smiling lightly as he adjusted his mask that was perched on his head.

 

“My one on one meeting with Ibiki-san ran over and we got talking about lunch. I figured that I would go out to get the food so that you don’t have to worry about your coat if that is alright with you,” he said, watching as his friend’s whiskered face stretched into a smile.

 

“That sounds good to me. Who’s paying?” Naruto asked, crossing his ankles as he looked at the two men.

 

“I am today, actually,” Ibiki said, pushing back from the desk as he grabbed a stack of papers with a smirk.

 

“Oh please don’t tell me you’re doing a working lunch,” Naruto teased, getting a dry look from Ibiki as he dropped the papers into a box.

 

“If I hadn’t suddenly found myself flooded with reports that need me to look over them, I would have had to worry about that fact,” the large man stated. He got a shrug from Naruto as Raidou snickered and found the cash from Ibiki’s drawer, quickly leaving. He wasn’t going to get in the middle of that conversation.

 

“It’s not my fault they all decided to turn things in while I’m here,” Naruto teased, dropping down into the chair that his friend had abandoned, surrounding himself with the man’s scent.

 

“It is your fault. They all think that you’re cute,” Ibiki huffed, enjoying the barely there blush that was slowly spreading over Naruto’s cheeks.

 

“They decided that my ears were cute,” Naruto corrected as he pouted, looking out of the window, missing the look that flashed through the other man’s eyes.

 

“Have you decided who you are telling next?” Ibiki asked, changing the subject and drawing Naruto’s eyes to him again.

 

“Kurenai and her team next. They have some time later on as I found out,” he replied, blinking a few times as he crossed his legs.

 

“Going to do it here?”

 

“Yes, I am.” Naruto gave him a look. “Since I’m here for the day.”

 

“Brat.”

 

“You know it.”

  
  


 

 


	10. Finding a Bit of Trust 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 10  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Naruto, Ibiki, Kurenai, Kiba, Hinata, Shino  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,571  
> AN: I have to say that I am sorry that it takes me so long between repostings but that's because I'm trying to get my writings of the week done before I get around to rewriting anything. That being said, I do have a list I follow when I write.
> 
> That is, in no particular order: 1) Our Truths chapter, 2) SuperHero Novel, 3) Mini/oneshot/random story, 4-5) Stories for friends (if I have them on my list at the time)
> 
> So it takes somewhere between 5 and 7 days before I spend a day just rewriting. And I have a long list of things to rewrite yet. Though I am getting through them since a lot of them were started right around the time that I started Finding a Bit of Trust, A Shifting of Life, and Sing Me a Lullabye. So please be patient.
> 
> Reviews are love but not necessary for me to post. I will post. It just takes me time.
> 
> Enjoy.
> 
> *~*~*~*

After they had eaten their lunch, Raidou had pulled on his mask and left once more to assume his normal duties. After cleaning up, Naruto had gone back to collecting the various reports and files as Ibiki worked on whittling down the ones that sat on his desk.

 

The last batch of ANBU had been replaced by several new ones in reading over the various files and notes from Sakura’s home that were in the boxes that they had filled. The blond male took a few minutes to send out a note to Kurenai and her team, smiling when she got one back from her, telling him just what time they would be at the headquarters for a meeting.

 

Looking at the wall clock, Naruto sighed softly and stood up, heading into Ibiki’s office, knowing that Kurenai would know where to find them and would lead her team there through a side entrance. Nodding the the ANBU who was handing over the last teams information, he sat down before the desk, he legs crossing as he watched the other man.

 

Once the ANBU had left, Naruto tilted his chair slightly and raised an eyebrow. “So, you find anything so far?” he asked, drawing Ibiki’s eyes away from the report that he had just signed off on. Looking to one corner, he jerked his head, waiting for the ANBU to leave, the scarred man rolling up the scroll before him. He put it into his outbox with the other scrolls before he turned to the notes that he had been given, scanning over them.

 

“No, not beyond what we knew. The Hokage and doctor was indeed right about one thing though. This shit was designed to turn your chakra into a physical manifestation, thus your ears and tail. Especially since your normal ears disappeared,” Ibiki said, teasing the younger male and getting a scowl in return. “With the fact that your chakra has some of the Kyuubi’s weaved into it?”

 

“Well then, I’m just glad that I don’t wear any earrings like Shikamaru than,” Naruto snorted, getting a smirk from Ibiki.

 

“That is true.” Ibiki tilted his head at the tap to his door by an ANBU. “It looks as if Kurenai and her team are coming through the side halls.” Nodding his head to the door, the large man sat back, Naruto pulling his legs up, crossing them with a smirk.

 

“I feel like shocking them. Then we’ll tell them what happened,” Naruto chirped, getting a low laugh from Ibiki as a firm knock came from the office door.

 

“Enter,” Ibiki called out, sitting back to watch the fireworks that were soon to come from this meeting.

 

Opening the office door, Kurenai clung to the door frame as she was pushed aside, Akamaru barreling past her to jump onto the very blond that they were to see. Blinking, the genjutsu expert could have sworn that she had seen blond furred ears twitch before Naruto was taken down, chair and all, by a very huge, very happy nin dog.

 

“Ack! Will you get down, Akamaru? Bad dog! Kiba, get your slobber monster off of me,” Naruto yelped, trying to get the large white dog off of him as he lapped at his cheeks.

 

“Wow, yeah, sorry ‘bout that, Naruto,” Kiba said, walking past the stunned Kurenai, grabbing Akamaru’s collar and pulling him off. Pushing himself up and off of the floor, Naruto hid his smirk behind a sleeve as the team of five went at the sight of his ears and tail.

 

“So this is the reason why I asked you to come around to see me,” he said, waving to his ears that were twitching with a chuckle. “As you can see,” he said, righting his chair, and turning to his friends with a smile.

 

Shino had buried himself further into his coat, his dark glasses giving nothing away, which didn’t really surprise Naruto in the least. Kurenai was still holding onto the door sill, her red eyes glue to his twitching appendages on his head, her hands twitching along with them. Hinata was staring with wide eyes, reminding Naruto a lot of how Neji tended to get a blank look when he was trying to figure out something. Kiba, on the other hand, was pointing at him, gaping at him in complete surprise.

 

“I have a feeling that the four of you wish to know just how Naruto has ended up with his ears and tail since you last saw him,” Ibiki finally said, speaking for the first time since the group had arrived.

 

“Yes, that would be something good to know,” Kurenai said, dragging her eyes away from the twitching appendages.

 

“Actually, you can blame the fact that I have them on Sakura,” Naruto said as he sat down, scratching behind Akamaru’s ears, getting a happily panting dog whose tail became a rudder, fanning behind him quickly. “She, somehow, created a serum that messed with my chakra. It screwed around with my physical appearance and gave me the manifestations of my chakra. At least from what we know. And since my chakra has some of Kyubbi’s forever mingled, this is the results.” Everyone stared at him, surprised at the rather thoughtful and insightful words. “What? I have had some time to think about this shit.”

 

“From what Sakura has said and wrote down, at least what we’ve been able to decode, she doesn’t consider Naruto human and wants the rest of the village to see the obvious truth. Which is her way,” Ibiki stated. “She’s very self absorbed, thinks that the world needs to revolve around her just because she was a part of the now ever famous Team Kakashi and she is Tsunade-sama’s studen. Conveniently, she forgets that Shizune-san is her apprentice and that an apprenticeship always trumps a student. At least from what the ANBU have gathered about her.”

 

“That’s pretty much what I figured out while I was gone with Jiraiya to train,” Naruto said.

 

“Then why did you allow her to inject you with the serum that gave you your new ears and tail?” Hinata asked, blushing very slightly as everyone looked at her.

 

“It was because of how she’s been acting lately. She’s been better since I got back. Remember, I can’t really tell anything from her scent alone since she also learned how to control her scent, hiding the changes that come from her emotions and pheromones by using her own chakra,” Naruto sighed. “She did learn it with all of us to stop those damn Oto nins from finding us out in the field, remember?”

 

“Yeah, I remember that we kinda had to. They did like their summons,” Kiba snorted. Ibiki filed the information that he was glenning from the conversation. He hadn’t known that so many of the rookie teams from that time had learned a technique that ANBU and Hunter Nin’s used on their missions. Not to mention while they were under pressure with an attacking enemy trying to get past their defenses.

 

Sitting back, he watched as the five talked back and forth about what had gone so wrong in Sakura, moving to what Naruto was planning on doing next.

 

“I’m going to end up talking with baa-chan so I can continue to play secretary for Ibiki when I’m not training myself to get used to the tail and ears while fighting. Especially seeing as it’s looking like they’re not going to be be removable,” Naruto hummed. He pulled his legs up on the chair and crossed them, Akamaru laying his head in his lap, Kiba pouting and feeling jealous about his partner sucking up to the other nin.

 

“Why aren’t you sure that she will be able to remove them?” Shino asked, curious as to what was going on in their friend’s mind.

 

“Well, since they are made from my chakra, I would think that just slicing them off would end up being painful and rather futile since I think that they would end up growing back due to my healing abilities.” Naruto tugged one ear with a raised eyebrow. The team all agreed that it was a well thought out explanation, and probably true. “So tell me, what do you guys think?”

 

“I think that I should be left alone in a soundproof room with the pink haired banshee for ten minutes.” Everyone swung around to look at the normally shy and sweet Hinata with wide eyes, surprised at just what had come out of her mouth.

 

“I think that you have been around my sister way to often,” Kiba finally said, getting a soft bark of agreement from his partner.

 

“And look it there. I just turned completely gay with that one statement,” Naruto muttered from behind Ibiki, having used his skills to hide behind him once Hinata had spoken. Ibiki just nodded in agreement, wondering if he should add any of the Hyuuga clan to the list of people that were banned from seeing Sakura.

 

“Well, who wants some tea?” Kurenai suddenly chirped, smiling brightly at them. She was bound and determined to get to play Naruto’s ears, and if that meant plying him with tea, so be it.

 

Naruto sighed and let his head thunk against the back of Ibiki’s chair.

  
  


 

 


	11. Finding a Bit of Trust 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 11  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Naruto, Ibiki  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,262  
> AN: I feel I must remind you guys that I am editing as I can. As of the reposting of this chapter, (Jan 2017) I have 5 chapters of Our Truths to rewrite yet and I'm on chapter 21 of this story in the rewrite. 
> 
> I try to wait to finish 5 chapters of the rewrite and getting words down but things have been going on that have been driving me nuts. Seriously. 
> 
> But for now, enjoy!
> 
> *~*~*~*

Waving as Kurenai and her team left the office, Naruto groaned and shut the door, leaning back on it with a very distinctive thud, shaking his head. He easily ignored the snicker that came from Ibiki as the man leant back in his chair, sighed and rubbing at his face.

 

“Oh just shove it would you? I want to see you try to deal with Kurenai when she’s in a full ‘so cute’ moment,” Naruto snorted, pushing away from the door to flop back down into his chair, running a hand through his hair again. “I could have sworn that my ears would be petted off or something if she could have gotten her hands on me.”

 

“You poor, poor thing,” Ibiki snickered, a smirk dancing on his lips as he shook his head at the pout that was forming on the blond’s lips. That pout made him things better thought of when he was alone.

 

In his bedroom with silencing jutsu’s layered over his walls.

 

And a bottle of lube the size of head at hand.

 

“I think that I’m starting to fear women even more than I ever have,” Naruto moaned as he let his head drop back against the back of his chair. “And I still have to tell Asuma’s team along with Kakashi and Iruka-sensei. Telling him is going to be scary actually.”

 

Ibiki snorted and nodded his head. “Iruka-san can be a very scary nin,” he said.

 

“At the least he’ll be able to stop Kakashi from going full on pervy on me. Ever since he read that one Icha Icha that had a cat-boy in it, he’s been trying to get me into a set of ears and a tail. Or even better in his eyes, get Iruka-sensei into them,” Naruto snorted. He shook his head as his ears flicked back at the thought. “I should also bug Yamato-sensei and tell him about this meeting to.”

 

“I have to ask, why is it you have so many senseis in your life?” Ibiki asked, watching as Naruto’s eyes sparkled in mischief.

 

“Unlike every other genin out there, I had a lot of learning and relearning to do. After all, before Iruka-sensei got his hands on me, the teachers didn’t want to teach me. When he got me, he had to reteach me how to write, my stances, and several dozen other things that I needed to know to graduate,” Naruto said, making Ibiki frown at that bit of news. He didn’t like that information, not one bit. “Iruka-sensei taught me everything that he could get through my head, while after Kakashi-sensei got his head out of his head, he continued to refine my technique. Then the pervert finished the polishing that he could and Yamato-sensei gave me new ways of fighting.”

 

Ibiki hummed, frowning slightly, Naruto just giving him a look.

 

“Anyways, since Tsunade-baa-chan took over, she’s fixed the academy so that no matter what the background of the child is, no matter what their skill level or their situation, left behind. Ever,” he stated.

 

“That sounds good,” the bald male drawled as he checked the small clock on his desk before he stood. “Come along. I want to go get some food and enjoy it without being bothered by people. We’ll sound out some messenger birds to those that we need to speak with and then we shall come back. Anko is working on Haruno again. It seems that she had a visitor under a very powerful jutsu that my ANBU couldn’t see. Or rather wouldn’t have been able to see under,” he said, getting a mildly curious look from his companion.

 

“Really now?” the younger male asked as they walked out of the office, the ANBU’s that were standing around nodding from their spots in respect.

 

“Yes. It seems that Haruno hasn’t said a single word on why the man was visiting her outside of telling us that she didn’t know him. Only one of my ANBU saw him, and he agrees with her,” Ibiki told him, watching as lightly furred ears twitched in annoyance.

 

“What about the cameras in the cells and halls?” Naruto asked as they stepped out of the building into the sunlight, both men squinting slightly under the light.

 

“Something was used to knock the sound out and fuzz the video, so they were useless. Whoever this person is, they know what to expect and how to deal with it. Including not showing their face to the cameras even when the picture is fuzzy,” came the growled response. Naruto patted one large arm in sympathy, knowing how it happened had hit at Ibiki’s ego and pride in the setup of his ANBU holding cells.

 

“I’m sure that you and your pet psycho will figure it out,” the smaller male promised, smiling slightly as they left the compound, Naruto pulling his hood up to hide his ears. “Do you…” he started before he trailed off, looking down at the ground and drawing a look of curiosity from his companion.

 

“Do I what?” Ibiki asked, raising a non-existent eyebrow at the younger male.

 

“I don’t want to sound like the world revolves around me, much less that I want it to, but do you think that the meeting between this mystery man and Haruno was about me?” Naruto asked. The two lapsed into silence as they headed for a rather popular nin restaurant and bar, taking a seat in a booth in the back.

 

Ibiki finally spoke after their waiter had come by with water and to take their orders. “There is a high possibility of that being true actually. From what Anko has been able to get out, Haruno was looking almost as smug as she had when she was telling Sasuke about why she had done this to you.” Naruto pursed his lips.

 

“Well fuck, that’s not a good sign,” Naruto sighed as he rubbed at his face with a groan. “As it is, I’m probably going to have to retrain with this tail since it’s throwing me off balance just walking. And of course, there might be a chance that I won’t ever get these new appendages removed and all because my own fucking teammate turned on me.”

 

“Ah, that reminds me that you also have to tell Sai-san,” Ibiki drawled, getting a moan as Naruto dropped his head onto the table with a shake.

 

“Oh shit. Just...fuck me sideways,” the blond muttered into the table. The words made Ibiki’s mind drop straight into the gutter, the large man shifting as he fought the natural response to the images going through his mind.

 

“I’m hoping that it won’t be too bad,” Ibiki said, rather unsurprised at the glare his words got in response. “For now, let’s eat. We’ll worry about everything else to come later,” he promised, getting a nod as Naruto sat up, their waiter arriving with their food.

 

After lunch, Ibiki did send off the various messenger birds with letters for the last of those who were to be told. Naruto used his frog contracts to send out a meeting request to the clan council members to set things up since they were all rather busy in their day to day lives. The two hadn’t spoken about Sakura, the mystery man, or what the future held for them during the rest of their lunch, but their talks about everything else continued well past them arriving back at the office.

 


	12. Finding a Bit of Trust 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 12  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Naruto, Ibiki, Yamato, Sai, Iruka, Kakashi, Asuma, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,484  
> AN: And here we go finishing off the meetings. I hope you guys are enjoying these rewrites. I really am. 
> 
> *~*~*~*

****

“I wonder why Naruto called us all to meet him today,” Choji mused, raising an eyebrow at the group before staring at his friend. Shikamaru just snorted next to him and shook his head as he leant back into the couch that they had sat on. Asuma shrugged, unlit cigarette twitching as he watched as Iruka scowl at Kakashi, the man once more buried into his book. Yamato was snickering with a sketching Sai who had taken over a spot on the floor, while Ino grumbled about wanting to go home, and pain in the ass, late to his own meeting blonds.

 

“I’m hardly that late, Ino-chan,” Naruto stated as he and Ibiki stepped back into his office, raising an eyebrow at her. “Ibiki-san and I had gone out to breakfast, and were rather enjoying not having to deal with people.”

 

“Wanna tell us why you called us right after a mission? This had better be important to come in on my day off, Naruto, because I want to go back home,” Ino said, crossing her arms. She watched as Naruto walked around the new temporary furniture over to Ibiki’s desk and perched on the edge of it while Ibiki himself just sat behind said desk, leaning back in his chair.

 

“Tell me, when have I ever called a meeting without having a _very_ good reason?” Naruto asked as he settled onto his perch, bunching his coat up so that he didn’t sit on it.

 

“He’s right, so shut up and sit down, Ino. We all want to stay home after that bullshit mission, but this must be important if he’s dragging us out of bed,” Shikamaru said, his voice bored, but his eyes sharp. The rest of the group stared at him for a few moments, Iruka hiding a smirk behind his coffee cup, before they turned to Naruto.

 

“You would be right, Shikamaru-kun,” Naruto chirped, shrugging with a smile at the other male, getting a knowing look from the shadow user. “So, Haruno officially went over the deep end on us. She did some human experimentation on me, which has taken my merged chakra and gave it physical form,” he said, tugging his hood down, the blond enjoying his ears twitching before he smirked at the reactions of those around him.

 

Asuma choked on spit as his cigarette dropped into his lap, his eyes watching Naruto as he reached down to pick up the cigarette, eyes watching the twitching eyes. Choji’s eyes widen at the sight of their friend, the chip he had been about to eat falling into his lap, fingers limp. Shikamaru actually looked as if he had some life to him, his body nearly vibrating as he narrowed his eyes, leaning forward to get a better look.

 

Sai had gone still, unblinking while his pencil twitched subtly in his hand, his mind whirling with all the possible ways that he could get Naruto into his studio. Eyeing the other male, he idly wondered what else was different about him. Iruka had gone into full fuss mode over Naruto, having stood up and moved over to him, smoothing down his hair and fussing with the fur that covered his ears. He made sure that his younger brother was mentally and physically okay.

 

Ino had started to coo softly, trying to get up to go over the blond, Shikamaru rousing out of his rather excited shocked state to lunge over Choji’s lap and drag her back down onto the couch. Yamato had blushed very slightly while staring at a wall and not at Naruto, or trying not to but still stealing looks. Kakashi, as his former student had predicted, was perving out over his new additions, hie eyes sparkling brightly. His mind was busy conjuring up images of a puppy eared Iruka hugging a dewy eyed fox eared Naruto as they sent pleading looks at him…

 

A well placed flare of Killer Intent was just enough to knock everyone but Naruto and Iruka out of his various states, their eyes turning to a smug looking Ibiki who just shrugged.

 

“Now that we have been able to tell everyone important, like the others I have to ask if you guys have noticed or seen Haruno acting strange lately,” Ibiki said. Naruto moved to the other couch that had been moved into the office temporarily with Iruka and cuddled up to him to bask in his attention.

 

“Nope. I don’t really hang out with her outside of our various training sessions and missions nowadays. I have been working on a new style of attack with an old jutsu of mine with Kakashi-san and Sasuke,” Sai drawled. His pencil had started to dance over his sketch pad again as he shifted on the floor, his eyes dancing up to Naruto and Iruka before he turned back to his pad. He started to flesh out the tail that was peeking out from behind his friend, tongue sticking out.

 

“She has been following Sasuke around the village again, but that has, no matter what we’ve tried to get her to stop, has been a normal thing with her since he’s come back,” Kakashi drawled. His eyes narrowed in thought. “Now that I think about it, I have seen her glare at Naruto for no real reason. But again, that has been rather normal if not unwelcomed,” he finished almost musingly.

 

“I don’t know her well enough myself to say anything about her seeing as even when I was training Naruto, I saw Sai more than her and only during team training,” Yamato admitted, shrugging. “I haven’t actually seen her except during the rare training session and our missions as Team 7,” he continued.

 

“Actually, outside of Ino, my team doesn’t interact with her on a day to day basis and rarely during a mission,” Asuma mused, lighting his cigarette before he killed it with a panicked look  when Naruto sneezed several times in a row. “Sorry, forgot that smoke annoys you normally,” he apologized, clearing his throat as he moved to open the office window.

 

“Lately I’ve been training with my dad to learn some new clan mind techniques, but I have been able to hang out a few times in the last couple of months,” Ino mused, her pale blue eyes narrowing as she thought about it.

 

“The other teams never really noticed anything outside of her seemingly new disdain for hanging out in groups of more than a few people,” Naruto said, pressing up into the long fingered hand that was smoothing his hair down.

 

“She’s missed a few lectures that she was supposed to do at the academy about being a medically included nin and what it means to know even basic medical for a nin,” Iruka said. He frowned slightly as he remembered how hard it was to get a hold of her after finding out that she hadn’t done the lectures, at least for the first week after each day.

 

“That sounds as if something has triggered a regression back to her old personality. This would include having her old dislikes and obsessions if she didn’t get past them before, but they’ll be a lot stronger than before,” Shikamaru said. He leant back against the couch cushions, his head resting on the back as his eyebrows drew together. “She also knows about the fact that Naruto carries the Kyuubi, the same as us, but what does she know when it comes to how much contact with him?” he asked, lifting his head to stare at Naruto.

 

“I actually don’t know. She never really learned that I talk with him beyond checking to make sure that he’s still around and that the seal is fine. She doesn’t know that he’s willing to help me learn and change things mentally, not to mention that he’s not really a homicidal maniac,” Naruto admitted, shrugging as he frowned himself, laying his head onto Iruka’s shoulder with a huff.

 

“I need to request that when you have time, I need you to write out reports about Haruno. Everything that you can remember from the last year, longer if you can remember that far back,” Ibiki instructed, Naruto relaxing under Iruka’s hand again. “The trail will be starting officially in about a week, but that is to trade information mostly. During the trial, Naruto is going to stay with me, see the Clan Council what has happened, go back to Tsunade-sama for tests and my ANBU will continue on to go through her notes before then,” he continued. The group nodded, thinking about what they had been told, even as Shikamaru muttered out how troublesome the report writing was going to be.

  
“Computers are a lovely thing, Shikamaru. Invest in it,” Naruto snorted, smirking at the pout from his friend.

 


	13. Finding a Bit of Trust 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 13  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Ibiki, some Anko   
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 857  
> AN: Two more to repost after this chapter. Remember, I'm on chapter 21 for the rewriting right now.
> 
> *~*~*~*

Getting Naruto to head out for the evening to relax, Ibiki watched as his house guest smiled and left with Iruka before he turned to the window, staring at the cloudy sky as it pressed against the glass. His mind was already busy, distracting from the work that was waiting for him to finally get around to signing it.

 

So far it was looking as if Naruto’s friends and allies all seemed accepting, if not surprised of what Sakura had done to him, which was good. It said a lot to Ibiki about the mental state that she had been in for the last six months. It also made him wonder just why reports of worry about her had never once crossed his or the Hokage’s desk during the last year at the least.

 

He looked away from the window when his door was knocked on, an ANBU in a snake mask stepping in and interrupting his thoughts, a single file box in his hands.

“Sir, it seems as if Haruno has been trying to mess with filed complaints about her, along with a few others. She also tried for any complaints that had been filed and connected to mission reports,” Snake said, holding up the box. He froze at the rather dark look that passed over Ibiki’s face at that bit of news.

“Who filed the reports?” Ibiki asked him, his voice cold as Snake moved to place the box down.

“Quite a few were from Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke,” he said, looking down. “At least from the basic glance that I had done. It looks as if it was just small complaints about her refusing to give them basic medical supplies when they went in. But there are others from other people,” he continued, getting a sharp nod.

“Very good finding those. I’ll have to go through them in a few. I want you to tell the current shift to write up basic reports about what they found and head out once the next shift arrives,” Ibiki ordered. Snake nodded his head, bowing, before he turned on his heel and left the office to fulfill his new orders. He knew that the next shift would be arriving soon enough and they would need the reports of what had been learned.

Sighing, Ibiki opened the box, unsurprised to find it filled with the complaint forms and pleased at the fact that they had been separated out according to who had posted what complaint. He found that most had indeed been filed by Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke, but there were some that came from Sai and Ino, two of the four that she worked with often.

 

Shuffling through the files, he found that most of the complaints against her was about her going on sudden and violent rants whenever her perceived authority was questioned or she had to do what she considered menial labor work.

It was starting to look as if he was going to have to speak with Shizune and the other medical nins and staff at the hospital to check on her actions there.

 

Writing down a reminder to himself, along with one to speak with Tsunade about her student, the interrogation expert looked out of the window once again. He found that the clouds had moved further in over the village and were heavier, making the work around them almost dusk like in the darkness.

 

The sight of the incoming storm helped to soothe his frazzled nerves that had started to fray the moment he had gotten the summons from Tsunade to work the investigation against Haruno.

His peace was quickly shattered when Anko burst through his office door, looking ruffled, in a lot of pain, and pissed off bad enough to kill someone with a spoon.

 

Eyeing her, he amended that into a rusty spoon.

“The little cock sucking bitch somehow got out of our cells!” Anko screeched as an ANBU medic nin snarled as she came sliding in. She looked as if she had been running after Anko, trying to get her to stop for ten seconds to be checked over.

Standing up from his chair, Ibiki stalked around the desk, ordering her to get fixed before he left his office, snarling.

By the time that Ibiki got away from work to get some rest, it looked as if Naruto had cleaned his home, top to bottom, made lunches for the next day, and was crashed out on the couch. A book on seals by Jiraiya was laying on the floor under his hand that hung off of the couch.

 

Feeling his day melt away with the lingering scents of fresh cooking and a clean home, Ibiki sat down on the chair that sat near his couch and watched as his companion slept. He decided that he should wait to tell Naruto about Sakura’s amazing escape with a new, surprise ally.

 

He looked to peaceful at the moment to tell him that once more his life was most likely in danger from a woman who had supposedly been his friend for many years.

 

 


	14. Finding a Bit of Trust 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 14  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Sasuke, Hinata, OC, Naruto, Itachi, Sparrow  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,553  
> AN: Almost....there...
> 
> *~*~*~*

It was a week after Sakura’s escape, and Naruto was pouting on the ground, his eyes closed as he tried to catch his breath as Sasuke muttered curses, Hinata dabbing at the Uchiha’s cuts with alcohol soaked cotton balls.

 

“Good thing is that we now know that your stamina and chakra stores haven’t changed any,” Sasuke snorted, getting a laugh from his two companions. “So, tell me, what have they said about the pink pain in the ass?” he asked after a moment, letting Hinata apply a butterfly bandage to one of his cuts.

 

“What about? What she did to me, or about the breakout?” Naruto asked in return as he sat up, stretching his arms over his head as he watched Hinata put the first aid kit back together.

 

“Info on you first, the escape second,” Sasuke drawled as he stretched his arms out. The soft sounds of footsteps announced the arrival of a rather pretty blond woman with cold bottles of water in her hands. “Hello, my lovely flower,” he greeted, smiling softly, watching as his fiance blushed lightly.

 

“Well, hello there. Sasuke, love, when you come home, can you please collect the rest of the mail from the post office? I had to have it filtered through them because some people are rather unhappy about our engagement announcement,” she said, getting a nod and smile from him. Water and request delivered, she headed back to the main house.

 

“You have seriously lucked out by having such an understanding fiance. More so since she is a civilian,” Naruto said, opening his water as he watched his friend’s eyes and face soften.

 

“Yeah, I did, didn’t I? I thank all of the Gods everyday that I agreed to meet her on a blind date when Itachi told me about it,” the Uchiha said. “She told me that if she could have had it her way, she would have trained as a nin and gone into the medical corps.”

 

“So what stopped her from doing that?” Hinata asked him, curious about the civilian nurse that was Sasuke’s future wife.

 

“She has a weird ankle and knee that became obvious after the first year of training. They started to go out at sudden intervals so she needs to wear a slightly stiff brace some days since it’s a muscle connectivity and tendon strength problem,” he said, shrugging. “Tsunade-san is looking into fixing it for her since she can use chakra, but it’ll have to be when I have enough vacation time and some ‘mini missions’ time so I can stay home most of the time with her. Until then, she’s an amazing children’s nurse and is actually hoping to be promoted to head nurse at the hospital in her section soon.”

 

“Damn. Man, if only she had been around when I had been a brat, I think my experiences would have been better,” Naruto sighed as he fell backwards as Hinata perched on his stomach.

 

“Stop avoiding answering our questions, Naruto,” she scolded, poking at his nose with a giggle, watching as his blue eyes crossed.

 

“Well then, since my ears are functional and my tail does feel pain, they can’t be removed. Couldn’t be even if they weren’t anyways. They’re both acting like stores of chakra,” Naruto said after a few moments of gazing up at his friend. “Since they act like stores, I can’t remove them, so I’m kind of glad that the ears are functional.”

 

“Oh, Naru-kun,” Hinata sighed softly as she reached down to scratch behind Naruto’s ears, giggling as he started to rumble out something like a purr.

 

“So we’re just having to wait huh?” Sasuke drawled as he crossed his legs, resting his elbows on his knees. Playing around with his water bottle, he let his mind mull over all of the problems that have been through at his friend over his lifetime. It was almost as if the blond had this large sign on his back that said ‘fuck me over’, but he knew that every time something went wrong, something else went so very right.

 

Sasuke just hoped that the good would happen soon, especially after such a nasty wrong.

 

“And what about Haruno’s escape?” he asked. He raised an eyebrow at finding Naruto using an unprotesting Hinata much like a teddy bear at the moment.

 

“Actually, all we know is that she had some help getting out of the fucking cells,” Naruto snorted, getting smacked on the shoulder by their female friend.

 

“Watch your language,” she scolded.

 

“Yes, Hinata-chan,” the two males chorused together, drawing out a smile and a laugh from her.

 

“Anyways. There isn’t really any evidence as to who or what got her out. But I have some ANBU watching over me when I’m not with Ibiki or around with a bunch of my friends. All that we know is that the collar that she had been wearing to suppress her chakra had been frozen and snapped off of her neck,” Naruto said, shrugging as he rested his head on Hinata’s shoulder with a huff.

 

“Though, somehow or another, Hisahi-san found out about my brand new attachments and he’s already promised me the Hyuga-clan’s support,” he mused as he idly played with Hinata’s long hair. He idly wondered just how Hiashi could have found out about them already. “Actually, I’m going to end up seeing the rest of the clan heads sometime soon. Itachi-san will have to be there as the Uchiha head, but you probably can get out of it since you already know,” he warned his friend, getting a snort from him. Lifting his head, Naruto smiled slightly. “Come on, let’s go get some food. I smell something fried.”

 

“Maybe Kimi-san was nice enough to make those odd onion blooms,” Hinata hummed, looking rather interested in that possibility. Sasuke just shook his head with another snort as they stood up, Naruto letting Hinata stand before he did so, looking just as interested in a blooming onion as Hinata was.

 

“Come on then. Let’s go raid the kitchen under my so understanding fiancé’s ever so amused eyes,” Sasuke snorted, getting a shy smile from Hinata and a knowing grin from Naruto.

 

“Well all know that your Kimi-chan is used to us by now. Though, I’m fearing what would happen if she tried to take over Ibiki’s kitchen. We would probably find out just how strong she can be,” Naruto snorted, his eyes glittering in amusement as Sasuke scowled at him.

 

“She already has Itachi playing like a good boy when he’s at home, and I dare not make her unhappy,” Sasuke snorted. Shrugging slightly as he smirked, the dark haired man ran his fingers through his hair. “Though I can’t say that I really mind since it’s a good thing I have with Kimi.”

 

“You are so sickeningly in love,” Naruto teased, Sasuke pushing at his head while he smirked.

 

“Come on you two! Food! And I see a poor, harassed civilian postman,” Hinata pouted, getting a soft laugh from her friends as she dragged them off to the house and said post man who held a bag full of scrolls.

 

*~*~*~*

 

Watching as the three walked back towards the main house, Sparrow sighed to himself and rubbed at the back of his neck. Muttering to himself, he started to follow discretely after them, having been watching over Naruto as he trained and figured out his body with the new appendages. His charge hadn’t even told the rest of the village yet, and since the pink haired bitch had gotten loose, there wasn’t any real pressing need to. Not yet at least.

 

Not that they knew _how_ she had gotten loose but they were starting think it was an inside job.

 

So here he was, playing babysitter without tipping off Naruto, and all on Ibiki’s command. Of course, he knew that if Naruto found out, that would be one hell of a fight, and one that he would rather miss then watch. Nodding to Itachi in his place, the ANBU perched on a tree limb as the three friends took the scrolls and walked into the house. From the sounds of it, Kimi was highly amused as she greeted them.

 

“How is Naruto holding up?” Itachi asked him quietly, gazing at the other man.

 

“Good enough for the time being. He’s regaining his balance again, quickly with the help of Sasuke-san and Hinata-san,” Sparrow replied, getting a curt nod.

 

“Has he shown any indication about how he feels about the ears and tail?” Itachi asked. He had been assigned to check on Naruto’s mental state, and part of that job was watching while another was asking those who observed and interacted with the young man. He looked to Sparrow, turning from the window that he had been staring at, feeling the man’s amusement.

 

“I think that would be more of a question that would be best answered by Ibiki-san,” Sparrow drawled before he bounced off to a new tree, leaving his fellow ANBU to his thoughts. Itachi wasn’t hiding his chakra much as it was.

 

No need to be discovered just yet.

 


	15. Finding a Bit of Trust 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Finding a Bit of Trust  
> Fandom: Naruto  
> Chapter/Part: 15  
> World: Finding  
> Characters: Sparrow, Ibiki, Anko, “Wolf” (not an OC), Naruto  
> For: TrulyWikid  
> Word Count: 1,366  
> AN: Final one for the moment. Enjoy.
> 
> *~*~*~*

“So all we have learned is that there was absolutely no trace of whoever was able to get her out of the cell? We knew this already. What I want to know is how the fuck they got past all of the fucking guards who were watching her,” Ibiki growled lowly. Anko paced around his office as two of the ANBU who were working on the case stood before his desk, glad that their masks hid their faces.

“We did discover how they got past the guards actually,” the Wolf ANBU replied, pulling out a piece of paper that had a seal copied on it, placing it down onto the desk. “It looks as if the first time that the guy had gotten in, he had had a seal master with him planting these on the ceiling. Or he did so himself.”

“Do we know what they do?” Ibiki asked them as he examined the seal, his eyes squinting as he held it under a lamp to look at the finer details.

“In a nutshell, it slows time down or at least it makes it seem like it does. What it actually does is turn the air around you heavy, and in turn your body feels heavy. It makes it easy for someone with a counter seal on them to seem fast to those under its influence,” Sparrow stated, raising an eyebrow behind his mask as Anko growled while she stalked. “We wouldn’t have found them at all except Anko-san decided that hunting around on the ceiling and walls for any possible seals was a good idea and set them off on the rest of us.”

“And what did happen after she set it off on you? I have a feeling that it’s a rather interesting story to come,” Ibiki drawled as he smirked at the moan that came from Anko.

“Oh would you just fuck off? You want to know? I fell off the damn ceiling is what happened. When the seal activates it also messes around with your chakra. I lost the ability to hold myself up on the high ceiling of our cellblock,” she growled, knowing that even Wolf and Sparrow had smug smiles under their masks. “I will start gutting people who make a joke about this shit,” she hissed, getting a bark of laughter from Ibiki. 

He couldn’t help but find his apprentices reactions to be very interesting and fun to watch. 

“So I take it that if we can, we should hunt down the person who set the traps up and hopefully find out who got Haruno out?” Wolf asked Ibiki. They got a nod from the man as he smirked. The three tensed as their boss and friend started to frown, laying his arms on his desk as he stared at them.

“I’m worrying about Naruto. I don’t doubt that Haruno will come after him as soon as she can, and she will more than likely try to further her agenda against him. Somehow, it just happens to coincide with whoever it was that got her out and their own plans,” he finally said, his people staring at him, their attention drawn to a new detail that they hadn’t figured out.

“Why would she go after him though? Especially after she has seen and been told in great graphic detail as to what would happen to her,” Wolf said, looking between the other three.

“That will be the next thing that we’re going to have to deal with I think. Your lack of psychology knowledge needs to be remedied,” Sparrow snorted as he patted his trainees back. “You’re very lucky that you’re smart in a lot of other ways. Now, as to your question, Sakura is a narcissistic sociopath who thinks that the world should revolve around her and her opinions. This includes her truths and what she wants. She wants to be the one who is controlling everything and everyone, but she doesn’t want the responsibility that would come with such an undertaking. Much like a lazy dictator.”

“Unfortunately for us, she’s still a very dangerous opponent since she’s such a wild card in her way of thinking and acting,” Anko said. Wolf nodded his head, his body language telling them that he was deep in thought about what they had just told him.

“For the time being, I want the three of you to head out and continue to hunt down any clues as to what happened and who got her out of her cell,” Ibiki ordered them.

“Yes, sir,” Wolf and Sparrow said in time, nodding and saluting their boss. Anko simply growled and disappeared in a small puff of smoke, followed closely by Wolf. Sparrow hummed and shoved a bit of hair back under his skull cap as he stared at Ibiki.

“How is Naruto-kun holding up?” Sparrow asked him, his voice worried. Ibiki sat back and rubbed a hand over his own skull cap, his eyes closing as he relaxed back into the back of the seat.

“At the moment, he’s trying to keep focus on the here and now for the moment. He’s so worried about what Sakura is planning to do now that she’s gotten loose again. On top of that, he has that meeting with the clan heads coming up so he’s reading over all of the information that we’ve discovered so far. He wants to make sure he has it all straight,” he said, pressing on the bridge of his nose with a sigh of disgust. “He’s working himself up into a state of exhaustion nearly every night and that’s starting to worry me since it’s only been two weeks since the start of this bullshit.”

“Sir, he’s always been that way. I suggest that you go home early sometime this week before the meeting and drag him away from his prepping. Preferably tonight since the first meeting starts tomorrow,” Sparrow said, Ibiki sighing and nodding his head with a tired look on his face.

“Fine. I’ll have to trust you on this about him,” Ibiki huffed, Sparrow smiling at him from behind his mask. “Now, get lost. Go teach Wolf some psychology and how the human mind works.”

“Yes, sir,” the ANBU drawled, bowing slightly before he left with his own puff of smoke, leaving Ibiki alone. 

Sighing, the large man stretched his legs out before him, looking over to his wall clock with a frown. Seeing the time, he figured that Naruto would already be at home and burying himself in the notes after having spent most of the day at the ANBU reports desk. Standing up, he left instructions for anything unimportant to be sent to Anko to deal with for the rest of the day. 

Locking his office door behind him, his secretary already reaching for her stash of something strong, he left the building and headed for the home that he was currently sharing with the sweet male.

Arriving rather quickly, he dismissed Itachi before he entered, kicking off his shoes and walking into the dining room where he found Naruto nibbling on a fry and going over his speech again, trying to find something wrong with it.

“Naruto-kun, put the speech away and come with me. I think that we both need to get away from work and relax for a bit,” Ibiki said, drawing blue eyes away from the papers and towards him.

“What now?” Naruto asked, blinking in some surprise when Ibiki snorted at him. The interrogation expert took the speech away and drew him away from the table with a smirk.

“Come help me pack a simple dinner for two and I’ll show you around the grounds since I haven’t been able to with all of the chaos going on,” Ibiki said. Naruto stared at him before he smiled and nodded his head. Together the two packed up a basket and left the home, heading into the surrounding woods and towards a small meadow that even Ibiki liked to visit.

Not that he would be willing to admit to that.


End file.
